Margarita Mooney Clayton, Ph.D.

Alex Hu, a Yale undergraduate, called his Scala experience “life changing” and “salvific.”

Currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Margarita Mooney Clayton founded Scala Foundation in 2016 and continues to serve as Scala’s Executive Director.

As a Cuban-American woman whose work lies at the intersection of the social sciences with philosophy and theology, Margarita excels at encouraging students, readers, listeners and audiences to think about important questions in culture, education and faith in new and different ways.

Her most recent books with Cluny Media The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education (2022) and The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts (2021), grew out of her decades of experience as a teacher and scholar.  Her book Faith Makes Us Live: Surviving and Thriving in the Haitian Diaspora (University of California Press, 2009) demonstrated how religious communities support the successful adaptation of Haitian immigrants in the U.S., Canada and France.

In addition to her scholarly books and articles, she has written on culture, faith, and education for publications that reach wide audiences both inside and outside academia such as CommentPlough MagazineReal Clear PolicyScientific AmericanThe Chronicle of Higher Education, The Miami Herald, America Magazine, First Things, Hedgehog Review, Public DiscourseChurch Life Journal and the National Catholic Register. She has been interviewed by organizations such as the Acton Institute, Duke Divinity School, the Institute for Humane Studies, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and by Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio.

Margarita received her B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and her M.A and Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. She has also been on the faculty at Yale University, Princeton University, Pepperdine University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.